No Distance Left To Run: A Film About Blur premiered in the UK this week. Reviews so far are positive, praising a well-shot and intimate account of the band’s rise to the heights of British pop.

The documentary is directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, whose combined résumé includes this music video for Franz Ferdinand. The pair’s work in the music industry obviously gives them great access to the four band members – Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree.

I confess, yes, I am a Blur groupie. One of my great concert moments was seeing them perform at Sydney’s Metro and reaching out to touch Albarn’s hand in what can only be likened to this. They, together with Pulp, captured everything I loved about big britpop at the time.

So, last night I put down my knitting, switched on SBS and watched Some Kind of Monster, a documentary on the making of Metallica’s album, St Anger. But the only monster in this film is also the white elephant – the record industry. In fact, I believe it’s the one about to devour the four band members in the promo poster to your right.

Their eighth album, St Anger, followed a six-year production break and bassist Jason Newsted’s departure. Directed by first-timers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the film was intended to document the album’s production.

What ensues, though, is something quite unexpected. You see, a lot has happened in six years and, combined with Newsted’s departure, stints in rehab and mid-life crises, the three remaining band members are quite the dysfunctional bunch. So psychotherapist cum “performance-enhancing coach” Phil Towle is brought in to help the trio work through their differences so they can get on with the job of producing another album stroke comeback.

Pioneered a genre of documentary that brought photography and musical composition together

Koyaanisqatsi is the work of director Godfrey Reggio, time-lapse photographer Ron Fricke and composer Philip Glass — released in 1982. It was the first of the Qatsi trilogy — Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002) followed. The film would also inspire similar non-verbal documentaries with sweeping music scores such as Baraka (1992), Atlantis (1991) and the truly amazing peek into the insect world Microcosmos (1996).Read the rest of this entry »